by Davis Ashura
“No you don’t,” William said, breathing heavily but still with plenty of stamina left in his tank. “Then you’d either turn into a necrosed yourself, die, or have to run like hell to get away from the damn thing.”
“Blah. Blah. Blah,” Jake said. “Let’s go.”
William pushed the pace again, and a couple of hours later they entered the huddled cabins and cobbled streets of Village Bliss. A few querulous dogs fought over a bone while children dashed around, somehow finding a way out of their work. Otherwise, the place lay quiet. Wood smoke drifted on the air as drones prepared lunch, which they would deliver to their fellows in the fields in a few hours.
“We go straight through,” William told Jake. “No stopping, and if anyone asks, we’re on orders from Serena.”
Jake nodded, and William slowed them to what felt like a crawl as they passed through the quiet alleys and shadowed streets of Bliss. The sun had yet to burn off the dew glistening on the village green, and puddles of water from last night’s rain pooled in ruts.
They left Bliss behind, but William nervously studied the Prime’s castle in the distance. It stood upon a hill to the north, pennons flying and nothing amiss. He breathed easier when they passed it.
They biked through the tree and bush-lined pathway leading to the pier. A few final curves, and the empty docks opened before them. A golden sun shone in a blue sky filled with cotton-candy clouds above the indigo waters of the Norwegian Sea. The scent of brine and fish carried on a stuttering breeze. And straight ahead of them, floating in her berth at the end of the short pier, lay Blue Sky Dreams.
William grinned. Part of him—a huge part—had been convinced that Serena would leave without them. Or that her entire plan would turn out to be another lie.
But there floated Blue Sky Dreams with only fifty yards to safety and the journey to freedom.
Jake spotted the problem first. Two unfamiliar people stood upon the deck of the dhow.
“Who are they?” William asked, flickers of anxiety sparking through him.
“Can’t tell from here,” Jake replied, sounding as nervous as William felt, “but based on their clothes, it looks like a Sere and a Walker.”
William eyed the mahavans and silently cursed. Damn it!
“Think they’re here for us?” Jake asked.
“Who else?” William answered. He dismounted his bicycle, and Jason did the same. They waited on the stone pathway leading to the pier. The tall bushes rising all around them reminded William of a prison.
The two mahavans stepped off Blue Sky and onto the dock. They approached, relaxed, unhurried, and confident.
“You are bound by order of the Servitor,” the Sere announced when he and the Walker were no more than ten feet away. All four of them stood on the stone-and-sand path leading to the pier. “Do nothing, and we won’t hurt you.”
“We were ordered to Blue Sky to fix a few things the unformed bear damaged,” William said, hoping they could lie their way out of the situation.
“We know why you’re here,” the Sere smirked. “Magi have been spotted on Sinskrill, and the Servitor figures they’re here for you.”
William sensed both mahavans source their Spirits. Fiery lines coursed across their chests, and the smell of burnt wood and mildew emanated off them.
He and Jake sourced their Spirits as well.
One of the mahavans smiled. “So you want a fight.”
A torrent of flame raged toward William and Jake. Tendrils of Earth poured off Jake’s hand, and into the ground. He pulled up a mound of dirt. The fire dashed against the earthwork. William hunkered down, wishing he could do more, but he still hadn’t figured out how to unbraid the Elements of his lorethasra.
A hissing whisper and a glacial scent heralded a howling wind that bit at Jake’s mound. The braid of air threatened to rip it away, and another torrent of flame blistered toward them. This one took a high, arching path. Jake shouted. Clear pulses of air surged down his arms, into his hands. With a gesture, he blasted the fire aside.
The Walker used the distraction to further tear into Jake’s earthwork, and it exploded in a fountain of mud and dirt. William dove to the side, avoiding another blast of fire.
Jake wasn’t as lucky. He took a gut-punch from a fist of air, and it sent him flying.
“You should have taken the easy offer,” the Sere said to William with an evil grin. “Now I get to pain you.”
William did the only thing he could, created the only braid he knew. His Spirit coursed along his body. Into it, he sucked in the lorasra all around him for a distance of twenty-five feet. It felt like inhaling sewage. His gorge rose, and he emptied the foulness out of him in a silver-white stream only a raha’asra could see. It poured forth to the side and contained a red tinge like blood. The drained lorasra brushed against a tree, instantly withering it.
The Sere’s wicked grin faded when his flame shivered and went out. The Walker cried out in confusion as his fist of Air wisped away.
William twirled his staff. Maybe he couldn’t fight with Elements, but with a stick he could do some damage. He roared a challenge and charged.
The mahavans drew their swords and stood loose and ready. William raced forward. At the last instant, he leaned aside from the Sere’s diagonal slice. A flick of the staff slapped away the Walker’s blade. A twist of his wrists blocked the Sere’s return thrust.
The Walker aimed a vertical slash, and William stepped back, evading the blow. He parried and retreated, all the while studying his opponents. They were good, and while he hadn’t trained in months, William knew he could take them.
But he had to be fast about it. While he’d drained lorasra from the surrounding area, it was already starting to fill back up. He might not have time to try that trick again, not while fighting off two swordsmen.
The Sere pressed forward.
A mistake. His movement left him unsupported, and William rapped aside a horizontal blow and followed up with a thrust. He stepped closer, into the pocket, and delivered a heavy knee. The air blasted out of the Sere’s lungs, and he collapsed, face white and gasping.
A fist of air hammered William in the stomach, and he landed flat on his back, pinned there and immobile. The lorasra had recovered. William cursed as the Walker leered in triumph, sword raised.
The killing blow never landed. The Walker tumbled away. A burst of air sent him flailing, and William found himself able to move again.
Jake reached his side. “Get up!”
William surged to his feet. He sourced his Spirit and drained the lorasra once again, discharging it into the water.
The Walker and the recovered Sere faced off against him and Jake with murder in their eyes. Their fight moved onto the narrow, stony beach in front of the dock. Footing became treacherous.
William flicked his staff and pushed aside a thrust. He blocked a horizontal slice before lashing out. The Walker tried to stumble back. He slipped on the loose stones. William adjusted his aim, and the butt of his staff caught the Walker in the chest. The mahavan crumpled and cried as ribs broke. Jake hammered him into unconsciousness.
The Sere shouted defiance and attacked. William let him come. He blocked. Blocked again before stepping out of range. He circled to his right. Another block. Another evasion. Twist to the left. The mahavan spun with him.
Too slow.
The Sere managed to block the first of William’s blows, but not the second. That one, a thrust, caught him flush on the temple, and the mahavan collapsed like a felled tree.
Jake grinned. “Not bad for a couple of half-trained raha’asras.”
William grinned with him. “We better tie them up and get them out of sight.”
“Do you think we should—?” Jake made a slitting motion across his throat.
William hesitated before shaking his head. “Not yet.” He hoped not ever.
At its core, the plan Serena and the others had come up with had simplicity as its strength. They’d avoided unnecessary tricks and misdirecti
ons, and instead had gone for the straightforward approach: repair the dhow, launch it, and sail away from Sinskrill with no one the wiser. Best of all, since Mr. Zeus really was lurking about the island, they could try to reach him and make their way to Arylyn.
All that was out the window now.
Serena cursed when she thought about how their fine plan had come unglued. All because the Servitor had to grasp the Spear, speak to Shet, and find out about her and Selene’s travels to Seminal. She cursed again before taking a deep breath and quieted her furious thoughts. There was no help for it now. What was done was done, and they had to deal with the consequences.
A new plan was needed, the outlines of which quickly took shape in her mind as she galloped the gelding along the Great Way and toward Village Paradiso. She’d tied the reins to the other horse—a mare—to her saddle, and the animal galloped without complaint. The Great Way remained empty of any other travelers.
First she had to reach Selene, who should still be on the road to Bliss. Second, the two of them had to reach the dhow. Third, she needed to rest her horse. The gelding couldn’t handle the fifteen-mile journey from the Servitor’s Palace to Bliss at a gallop.
Serena pulled back on the reins, and the gelding huffed in gratitude.
And fourth, she had to hope William and Jake had left for Bliss even earlier than they’d initially planned. If not, yet another plan might be needed.
Part one of her scheme came to fruition when, a few miles later, she caught sight of Selene. The young girl had chosen to walk her bicycle instead of ride it. Selene stepped off the road and grinned upon seeing Serena’s approach.
Serena reined in alongside her. “Why are you walking?”
“Chain broke.”
“Get on,” Serena ordered.
Selene’s face went white with fear. “Drones don’t ride.”
“Do you trust me?” Serena asked.
Selene nodded.
Serena offered her sister a hand. “Then get on. We have to go. Now.”
Selene clambered aboard.
Serena waited until her sister settled in behind her. “Hold tight,” she advised, and Selene’s small hands clutched about her waist.
Serena pushed the gelding as fast as she dared, and they soon reached Paradiso. She stared at the village for a moment, searching for anything out of the ordinary, but a few moments of study revealed nothing worrisome. The village appeared unchanged. No columns of mahavans waited for her, and she wondered why. Maybe Fiona’s alarm about magi on the island had actually worked. Or maybe a message hadn’t yet been sent along the lightposts used to transmit emergency warnings from village to village.
Whatever the reason, Serena breathed out her gratitude to whatever deity might be listening.
She and Selene passed through Paradiso, and all the while Serena kept an ear pinned, listening for the hoofbeats of onrushing horses.
No sounds came, and they pressed on, stopping only when they had to switch to the mare. The gelding’s mouth frothed, and he heaved.
Serena continued to fret as they traveled, and her worry didn’t let up even when Bliss hove into view. They were almost there, almost to Blue Sky Dreams. Again, Serena eyed the village and offered another silent prayer to whatever God might be listening. Please don’t let there be mahavans waiting for us.
Her prayers must have been answered because they swept through the village unchallenged.
“Where are we going?” Selene asked.
“To the dhow,” Serena answered.
“What are—”
“I’ll explain it all when we get there,” Serena promised.
“Yes, Madam.”
A few minutes later, Serena’s worries dissolved when they reached the docks. Blue Sky Dreams bobbed in her berth, and a pair of familiar figures stood on deck. Laughter bubbled in Serena’s throat.
Almost there. Almost out. And there was absolutely no one to stop them.
She and Selene dismounted, and they rushed to the dhow.
“We have to leave,” Serena ordered as soon as she climbed aboard the boat.
William’s happy grin withered away. “What happened?”
“Somehow Lord Shet—damn him forever—told the Servitor about our visit to Seminal.” She gestured to include Selene. “I’ll explain it all later, but right now we have to cast off. There might be pursuers behind us.”
“What should we do about them?” Jake asked, pointing out a Sere and Walker laid unconscious on the deck of the dhow.
Until that moment Serena hadn’t noticed the two trussed-up mahavans. “What are they doing here?”
William shrugged. “Your father sent them. Something about magi on the island, and him being suspicious we’d try to escape. They were waiting for us when we got here.”
“Well, get them off my boat. I don’t care if you toss them in the sea or dump them on the dock. Your choice.”
PURSUIT
July 1987
* * *
William and Jason quickly dumped the Sere and Walker on the dock.
“Move it!” Serena shouted. “We’ve got company.”
William’s head shot up. A half-dozen horses had crested the final hill leading to the pier. All bore mahavans and even from faraway, William could tell they were mightily pissed.
“Shit!” William scrambled to untie the lines securing Blue Sky Dreams to the dock.
“They’re coming!” Serena called out. She braided something. William heard a whine of air emanating off of her.
The hoofbeats thundered closer, no more than fifty yards away. His fingers seized. Panic bubbled. So close to freedom, and they’d be undone by his clumsiness. He fumbled with the rope and cursed when it slipped out of his hands.
“Hurry up!” Jake called, already done with his line.
William remembered to breathe, bit down on his fear, and got his fingers working again. The rope unwound from the cleat. He tossed it aboard and scrambled after it.
The mahavan warriors dismounted and raced across the sandy beach. They shouted and fell in a clatter when their feet went out from under them.
Serena chuckled.
“What did you do?” Jake asked.
“I put pockets of air under the sand. They slipped on them like they hit a banana peel,” Serena said.
William silently applauded her trick while urging the dhow to get going. Faster! The single, lateen sail puffed out, and the boat eased forward, sluggishly picking up speed. William measured the distance back to the pier. They hadn’t gone nearly far enough. Come on!
The Sinskrill warriors rose up from where they’d fallen with angry shouts. They tore down to the end of the pier and readied bows.
The dhow headed toward the mouth of the harbor, and William implored the wind to blow harder. A second later, his hopes dashed as Blue Sky’s sail luffed. She slowed to a crawl.
“The Walkers are disrupting the wind,” Serena said. She frantically trimmed the sail, hauling it closer to the ship.
“Get down!” Jake warned.
William ducked, and a flight of arrows passed overhead. Most thunked into the hull, but one slammed into the mast, luckily missing the sail.
As soon as the arrows landed, Serena stood up. A ripple of sulfurous fire arched around her chest, and a bloom of fire burst from her hands. It exploded the support posts of the dock. Half the mahavans tumbled into the water. Only a few managed to leap clear of the damage.
William shouted in triumph, but his victory proved short-lived.
Some of the mahavans who hadn’t fallen into the sea had jumped off the broken pier. William’s jaw dropped. Walkers raced toward Blue Sky, bouncing along the sea’s surface like crazy lizards that ran on water.
“We can’t let them land on Blue Sky!” Serena shouted.
“They won’t,” William said. He sourced his Spirit, and focused like he had against the Sere and the Walker. He sucked away all the lorasra around the dhow and poured it out along the side of the boat, into the ha
rbor.
The Walkers shouted in panic when their jets of Air cut off. Nevertheless, with momentum on their side they all managed to make the leap onto the boat.
Serena had her jian out, and William drew the longsword he’d noticed in her belongings. Jake held his staff at the ready.
The dhow continued to drift toward the mouth of the harbor, the sail luffing again.
Three mahavans faced them. William recognized them from his time on the island: Brandon Thrum, Samuel Ingot, and Preeti Amal.
“I trusted you,” Brandon snarled at Serena.
“Trust no one,” Serena replied. “Lord Shet’s advice.”
Samuel, a whip-thin and whiplash-fast Walker, opened his mouth. “By order of the Servitor—”
William didn’t let the man finish. He swept his sword in a horizontal slash followed by a thrust. Samuel parried. William angled away, struggling with his balance on the bobbing boat. He managed a diagonal cut that Samuel blocked. William twisted at the wrists and pinned the mahavan’s blade against the deck.
He was about to hammer an elbow into his opponent’s face when Selene snuck up and cracked Samuel over the head with an oar. The mahavan stumbled, and William gut-kicked him. Samuel flopped out of the dhow, splashing into the water.
William spun, looking for another opponent.
Brandon had Jake hard-pressed. “You should have learned your lesson at your lashing,” the Walker growled. He smashed aside Jake’s staff, his blade poised for the final stroke.
William slashed into Brandon’s thigh. The mahavan fell back with a grunt. William kicked away the Walker’s sword, grasped him by the collar, and flung him off the boat. He hit the water with an inarticulate shout.
Serena had already dispatched her opponent. Preeti slumped over Blue Sky’s bow. William couldn’t tell if she was alive or dead. A groan gave him his answer, as Serena shoved her overboard as well.
William watched Preeti float away in their wake, and sighed with relief that they’d survived the Walkers.
Movement in the corner of his eye caught his attention, and William blinked. He shook his head. It couldn’t be. Some of the mahavans who had fallen into the water at the docks were coming after them. They surfed waves of water.
